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The first official day of The Tall Ships’ Races in Maløy saw thousands of people crowding into the small town to visit the ships and watch the traditional Crew Parade through the streets. The small population swelled by many times its number as the visitors poured into town.
During the day, many crews had been taking […]
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With just a few ships left to arrive in Maløy, and the final time limit for the race now passed, the provisional results are available. It should be noted that these will remain provisional until all Race Declaration Forms have been received from the ships. The final results will be announced on Friday 1 August […]
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More vessels in The Tall Ships’ Races continued to cross the finish line overnight making small amendments to the provisional results. In the lead on corrected time overall remains Jolie Brise (UK) with Stina Mari (Norway) in second place and Christian Radich (Norway) in third. In Class A on corrected time Christian Radich is in […]
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Vessels have continued to cross the finish line throughout the day, and with these new finishers the class positions have altered slightly. This may continue to happen until all the vessels have crossed the finish line.
Overall on corrected time the leading three positions remain unchanged with Jolie Brise (UK) in first place, Stina Mari (Norway) […]
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On 10 September an international fleet of 20 Tall Ships from as far away as Mexico and Oman will be visiting the port of Falmouth for the start of the Funchal 500 Tall Ships Regatta. The event will form the centrepiece of year-long celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the first settlement of the […]
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More vessels in The Tall Ships’ Races finished overnight and arrived in Maløy to a warm welcome with their national anthems played and flags raised. The small fishing town of Maløy is about to be doubled in size with the arrival of the fleet and everyone is involved in some way or other. Two cruise […]
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Maløy waved a sad goodbye to The Tall Ships’ Races fleet today as they departed on their cruise in company to Bergen, ending four days that the town will never forget. Sorlandet was the first ship to slip from her berth and lead the fleet down the fjord before turning and coming back past the town in full sail. With the sun shining and most of the vessels setting at least some sail, the watching public were treated to a spectacular view.
As the parade of sail got going and the vessels made their return journey back past Maløy, the harbour in front of the town was filled witih the sight of ships, with the smaller Class C and D vessels making up a colourful scene.
Photo: Sorlandet leads the parade of sail out of Maløy.
The fleet are now free to cruise in company in the non-competitive phase of the race series. A number of small ports around the fjords have invited the ships to visit and the crews and trainees on board are sure to be rewarded with some amazing sights as they sail past the beautiful scenery and have a chance to visit some lovely small towns.
The fleet are due to arrive in Bergen on 9 August for the start of the four day festivities, during which they will prepare for the second race of the series to Den Helder in the Netherlands.
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admin @ August 4, 2008
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The Dutch Class A ship Morgenster, a two masted brig, joined The Tall Ships’ Races for the first time this year, although was originally built as a fishing boat before being recently rigged as a sailing ship. This first race was not only a trial voyage for her, but she was operating as an international exchange vessel with 12 nationalities of trainees on board.
The trainees, from Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK and the USA, all met for the first time in Liverpool where they joined the ship. For many this was their first experience on a tall ship while others had experienced different ships in different countries. All, however, are now firm friends.
Photo: left to right: Ben Dickson, Maria Cooper and Daniel Karapolos
New Zealander Ben Dickson joined the ship after being offered a place through the Australian National Sail Training Organisation of which he is a member. The 21 year old often sails on Spirit of New Zealand as a volunteer crew member but was delighted to be able to come to Europe to take part in The Tall Ships’ Races. Maria Cooper, 17, from Sweden has sailed on her school ship Gunilla a few times but also wanted to take part in the race and decided to join Morgenster, although had no idea what she looked like until she saw the ship in Liverpool. For Daniel Karapolos, 20, this was his very first time sailing and was encouraged to do so by his Greek father who has been instrumental in the recent creation of the Greek National Sail Training Organisation.
Daniel, who has Dutch nationality, said he had no idea what to expect before he joined the ship except that he thought it sounded like an adventure. “The friends I’ve made have been great although sometimes I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing as many people knew what to do and got on with it, because it was a race.”
The international crew were very keen on doing everything they could to win the race and were constantly trimming the sails, especially at night when it was quiet. “Then we had no wind and that was frustrating, although to start with we thought it was great to lie in the sun, but then we wanted to be doing something,” said Daniel. The ship finally came in 6th in her class and 9th overall.
With so many nationalities on board, a special ’ship’s language’ was developed which borrowed words from many different languages, but which everyone understood. “We would often tease each other about their different accents,” said Maria, “and then we tried to cook something from each of our countries, which wasn’t particularly easy with the lack of ingredients!” Another game they played was to pick up a cereal packet from the deck in their teeth, which Maria said was easier said than done, “particularly in the middle of the night with the ship heeling over!”
Ben said they danced the samba one night, “but that’s not easy to do in seaboots and full wet weather gear!” The three of them have really enjoyed their stay on board and think that Maløy is beautiful. “It is very strange to have such long days and still be able to see everything even at 4 in the morning,” Ben said.
Ben and Maria said their experience on board Morgenster was very different to their previous experiences on Spirit of New Zealand and Gunilla respectively. “Gunilla has a very structured approach to the way they do things and so it was strange to be on a ship which was much freer,” said Maria, who joins Gunilla again in September for another voyage from Sweden to Spain.
Daniel said he would love to have another opportunity to sail again and thought that would probably be during the Historical Seas Tall Ships Regatta which was taking place in 2010 from Greece to Bulgaria and Turkey. “It is hard to imagine having a better time as I’ve really made some great friends,” he said.
Ben summed up the experience by saying, “I think you make better friends on a Tall Ship than you do in your daily life,” a sentiment which the others agreed with.
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admin @ August 3, 2008
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A very special Captains’ Dinner was held last night at the Selje Monastery on the island of Selje a short distance from Maløy. The Monastery ruins, which date back to the 10th century, formed the most spectacular backdrop for what was voted the ‘best ever’ captains dinner that anyone could remember. Despite the rain, and many said because of it, the dinner was going to go down in history as particularly memorable.
The captains and their guests were taken to the location by boat and provided with rain macs as a light rain continued to fall for most of the evening. The rain, however, failed to dampen anyone’s spirits and the magical location, the excellent food and wonderful music created an atmosphere that will be hard to beat.
Vikings and serving wenches helped to give an authentic feel to the historic location with all the food having been sourced from the local area. Herbs for the bread and fruit for the desert had been gathered locally and crayfish, prawns and monkfish had been caught in the wates around the island.
Four local girls entertained the captains with some haunting and magical singing, made all the more special by the wonderful acoustics created by the surrounding mountains. Cheers were echoed back and fires and flaming torches surrounding the dinner added to the atmosphere. A band, atop of a cliff behind the tower and lit by spotlights, continued to entertain the captains, with many dancing on the grass despite the continuing rain.
Captain Toby Marris of Jolie Brise thanked the town of Maløy on behalf of the captains and entertained them with his memories of first hearing about the small town that was to host The Tall Ships’ Races. Everyone agreed it was without doubt the best captains dinner ever held and not even the mosquitos and rain could dampen their enthusiasm.
Today many of the crews will be changing in preparation for the Cruise in Company to Bergen that will start tomorrow, following the Parade of Sail. Visitors continued to descend on the town of Maløy to enjoy the sight of the vessels in port and the special atmosphere. To date more than 20,000 people are estimated to have visited Maløy since the ships arrived with more expected today and tomorrow.
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admin @ August 3, 2008
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The crews taking part in The Tall Ships’ Races 2008 have been enjoying a number of different sports competitions as well as tours of the area around the small town of Maløy. The ever popular football competition attracted 21 ships in two tournaments. The full 11 a side team competition was finally won by Cuauhtemoc (Mexico) who went on to provide some wonderful Mexican music as they collected their prize. The final of the smaller 7 a side event was between Shabab Oman (Oman) and Cisne Branco (Brazil) with the surprise winners being Shabab Oman
The tug-of-war competition had 22 ships teams entered, which ended up with a final battle between Mir (Russia) and Dar Mlodziezy (Poland) with Dar Mlodziezy finally having the upper hand over rivals Mir.
Under slightly overcast skies on Saturday morning, over 30 ships’ teams took part in the popular pallet-running competition. A huge crowd gathered to watch the crew members try their luck at running over submerged pallets in the harbour, many getting the technique just right and keeping their clothing dry, while others sank into the chilly water.
Meanwhile, other crew members were trying their hand at sailing very small dingies around the harbour, as well as traditional boats and even viking craft. For the disabled Bow and arrow shooting and sailing was on offer and proving very popular. One of the most requested tours was a a mountain hike to Hanekammen and up to the spectacular Briksdalen Glacier. For the disabled on board Lord Nelson a very special helicopter trip is being arranged to take them up to the Briksdalen Glacier while a number of their fellow crew mates make the hike up there to meet them. Boat tours around the coast to see some of the ancient rock carvings of some 4000 - 2000 BC have also been popular.
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admin @ August 2, 2008
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